Happy Birthday, Marks Street

Fest Lets Seniors Blossom

May 11, 2000|By Tongelia Milton of The Sentinel Staff

The Marks Street Senior Recreation Complex in Orlando is celebrating its 75th birthday and Older Americans Month with its second annual Senior Appreciation Day Cook-out and Birthday Celebration on Friday.

A day of fun and appreciation sounds good to Dottie Cooke, a senior citizen who would not reveal her age. She attends activities at the center regularly and says "there are a lot of people that should be appreciated." She said seniors are the ones that helped rear today's generation, and they don't always get the respect and acknowledgement they deserve.

Jody Hampton, the site supervisor, said that's the reason the center began having Senior Appreciation Day last year. "We wanted to show our seniors our appreciation for them," she said. "They get to relive their childhood and have fun." She thinks it's important that seniors get out and do things, and that's why the center does what it can to help them keep busy. If seniors don't stay active, she said, dementia, depression and other illnesses can set in.

Last year's Senior Appreciation event had about 325 attendees. The addition of a birthday celebration this year may entice more. This year's event is expected to produce double that number, said Penny Acheson, a recreation leader at the center and one of the planners of the event.

The Marks Street facility, which turns 75 this year, is a senior itself. It has seen lots of changes around and within it. The Marks Street Elementary School opened there in 1925. Cooke attended the school in 1938.

The Marks Street School was closed in 1965. In 1967, it became the Magnolia Special Education School. Then, said Hampton, it became a textbook depository for the Orange County School Board in 1971, and the Marks Street senior center in 1984. For Cooke and her friends, it has become a place to meet and just "enjoy the people," she said.

The Senior Appreciation Day and Birthday Celebration begins at 10 a.m. with a welcome by Acheson. The fun includes carnival games, a craft sale, a health fair, line dancing featuring Glenda Marshall and the Jo-Dot Dancers and magic from the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Guest speakers include parks and recreation Assistant Manager Rodney Williams and Orange County Chairman Mel Martinez. The festivities conclude at 3 p.m.

The event is open to the public, but parking is limited. Carpooling or public transportation is strongly suggested.

Those seniors who can't make it out on Senior Appreciation Day can check out some of the center's other activities during the year. The Marks Street center offers day trips, tai chi classes, bridge and canasta games, hatha yoga classes, movies, water aerobics, ballroom dance lessons, walking and informational seminars.